Local sources report that at least 50 Palestinians were killed in continuous airstrikes on Rafah on Saturday. This follows an attack on a market in Rafah Friday that broke a ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ with the number of deaths estimated to be over 50, and the wounding of 200 more. The final toll is still being determined, however, as many bodies (and possibly survivors) remain under the rubble and medics have been unable to access them due to continuous Israeli shelling.

In the latest airstrikes on Rafah, 4 people were
killed and 11 injured in an airstrike on the Abu Taha family home. They
were identified as:
1. Sadia Abu Taha, 40
2. Mohammed Abu Taha, 27
3. Youssef Abu Taha
4. Rezeq Abu Taha, two months

In Nusseirat Saturday afternoon, 4 people were killed and 5 injured in
an airstrike on the Abu Madi family home. They have been identified as a
father and three children:
1. Yousef Daoud Abu Madi, 65
2. Hassan Yousef Abu Madi
3-Karim Yousef Abu Madi 24
4. Amin Yousef Abu Madi, 5

In a separate airstrike in Rafah on Saturday, two people were killed and their bodies brought to the Kuwaiti Hospital:
1 - Muhammad Hassan Qeshta
2 - Ahmed Shtewi Qeshta

The bodies of four people killed in an airstrike that hit the Abu Teir
family home on Saturday late afternoon were brought to Nassar Hospital
in Gaza City:
Hathifa Abu Teir
Nabil al-Najjar
Kamal Abu Teir
Ahmad Abu Teir

Also in Gaza City, in Shifa Hospital, a critically wounded Palestinian died in surgery. The victim was identified as:
Yahya Jamal Musa Shabat, 29

updated from:
Two Palestinians Killed, Many Injured, In Rafah; 4 killed in central Gaza
Sat, 02 Aug 2014 15:02:45
Medical sources said two Palestinians were killed and several others
were injured, after the army bombarded their home in Gaza; several
Palestinians family members have been injured. Remains of many
Palestinians found under rubble of bombarded homes.

The slain Palestinians have been identified as Hamdi Mohammad Abdul-Aziz Ayyad, and Shadi Hamdi Mohammad Ayyad.

In addition, medics and rescue teams managed to locate the remains of
twelve Palestinians under the rubble of bombarded homes in Rafah, in the
southern part of the Gaza Strip.

The Ministry of Health said the remains of many Palestinians are buried
under the rubble in different areas, adding that the remains have been
severely mutilated due to Israeli shells and bombs, and called on the
media to wait for official names that would be issued by the Ministry of
Saturday evening.

They estimate that as many as 120 Palestinians have been killed, and
more than 600 have been injured, in Israeli bombardment of Rafah on
Friday and Saturday. Fifty-six of them have been killed Saturday, while
more than a hundred have been injured.

Earlier Saturday, three Palestinians died of serious injuries suffered
after the army fire missiles into their homes in Central Gaza.

One of many tweets of Israel ceasefire violations (image by @ladysabrina254 on Twitter)The airstrike on the Rafah market during the humanitarian ceasefire on Friday was apparently a ‘revenge attack’ for the killing of two soldiers and the abduction of one which took place earlier that morning in the city, according to local reports. But while the attack on the market clearly took place in the midst of the humanitarian ceasefire, the attack on the invading soldiers took place well before the ceasefire was set to begin.

The al-Qassam Brigades issued a statement Saturday saying, "What

happened east of Rafah Friday morning was that occupation forces took advantage of the alleged humanitarian ceasefire to penetrate our land for more than two kilometers”.

“After its blatant aggression and violation of the ceasefire, the enemy [Israel] began to spread the lie that the resistance violated the truce. We confirm that over the past twenty days no Zionist soldier had any presence in the eastern area of Rafah. After the announcement that a ceasefire agreement had been reached, the enemy [Israeli military] began to move in that area and at precisely 2am made an incursion 2.5 kms east of Rafah.

"This leaves no room for doubt about the enemy’s intention to violate the truce and infringe on our territory and our defenseless people. Faced with this Zionist advance, at precisely 7am our fighters engaged with the invading forces and caused a large number of deaths and injuries in their ranks.”

In a statement early on Saturday morning, Qassam explained how it had understood the ceasefire:

“We notified the mediators that took part in arranging the humanitarian ceasefire that we agree to a ceasefire with regard to the sites that we target in Zionist cities and towns, but from an operational standpoint we cannot cease firing toward forces that have entered the [Gaza] Strip and are operating and moving constantly. This means that it is possible for any invading force to encounter one of our units and this could lead to clashes.”

They said they had hoped that the ceasefire would still be able to continue, despite the Israeli violations, but the airstrikes that had been ongoing from 8 am were expanded with the attack on the market at 10 am, at which point the ceasefire fell apart.

A later statement added, "We lost contact with a group of fighters ... when Israeli occupation forces penetrated east of Rafah. We suspect that they were all killed by Israeli shelling, including the Israeli soldier who, supposedly, was abducted by the group."

The Israeli military claimed that the attack on the soldiers took place after the ceasefire began, saying "an attack ... executed against (Israeli) forces operating to decommission a tunnel" occurred at 9:30 am.

U.S. President Barack Obama condemned Hamas for what he claimed was a "barbaric violation of the ceasefire.” He further stated that the U.S. "unequivocally condemned Hamas and the Palestinian factions that were responsible for killing two Israeli soldiers, and abducting a third almost minutes after a ceasefire had been announced."

But the actual sequence of events does not line up with the Israeli claim, which was reiterated almost verbatim by the U.S. President.

Tweets by journalists and medics of casualties and airstrikes by Israeli forces in Rafah began to come in just after 8 am (the time that the ceasefire was set to begin), challenging the Israeli claim that the confrontation between the soldiers and the resistance fighters took place at 9:30.

At around 10 am, Israeli airstrikes hit a crowded market, killing 50 people who had come out of their homes during what was supposed to be a ceasefire in order to gather supplies.

This follows a similar attack by Israeli forces on a crowded market in Sheja’eyya during the previously-declared ‘temporary humanitarian ceasefire’ on Wednesday. That attack killed 17 civilians, mainly women and children out shopping for food and supplies.

Palestinian militant groups in Gaza on Saturday took responsibility for a number of rockets fired into Israel over the course of the day, as Israeli forces killed more than 75 Palestinians.

The Hamas-affiliated al-Qassam Brigades said that they targeted the Nahal Oz military base with three 107-rockets.

Al-Qassam Brigades also claimed responsibility for targeting Haifa with an R160 missile, Tel Aviv with three missiles, military forces stationed in eastern-central Gaza with six 107-missiles, and other forces in eastern Shujaiyya with eight mortar shells.

The also said they had targeted the Israeli cities of Zikim, Erez and Sderot with eleven 107-rockets, Ashdod with two grad missiles, Nahal Oz with two mortar shells, Abu Matbeeq with four mortar shells, and Kisufim with two 107 rockets.

The Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for launching two 107-missiles at Abu Matbeeq military site.

Israeli media said on Saturday that the Israeli military was unilaterally withdrawing from Gazan urban centers and re-deploying near the border in a move that suggested a limited ground re-occupation of the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz said that Israeli forces were redeploying several hundred meters from the border, which was confirmed by Israeli Channel 2.

It was the first time troops had been seen pulling back since the start of Israel's devastating 26-day operation, which has so far claimed more than 1,660 Palestinian lives and forced up to a quarter of the territory's population to flee their homes.

The move came after an army spokesman told AFP that Israel was "quite close to completing" the destruction of tunnels used for infiltrating southern Israel -- which Israel has in recent days said is the main objective of the ground operation.

Haaretz said that in the next 24 hours, the military would "announce that all known tunnels reaching from Gaza into Israel have been demolished," including 31 allegedly known previously as well as a number of other newly discovered ones.

The Haaretz report also that Israeli forces intended to withdraw from "built-up areas" and redeploy near the border.

"The re-deployment is meant to secure Israel's Gaza vicinity communities in case of breaches, and in readiness of possible future missions," the report continued.

Earlier, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that a unilateral Israeli withdrawal would not "commit" the group to anything, saying that they were prepared to keep fighting.

Abu Zuhri also said that Israel had to pay the price for its actions, adding: "They either stay in Gaza and pay the price, unilaterally retreat and pay, or negotiate and pay."

A military spokeswoman, however, refused to comment to Ma'an on the reports.

Earlier on Saturday, Israeli authorities told hundreds of thousands of residents of the northern Gaza Strip that they could return to their homes except in Beit Hanoun, after being told to evacuate last week.

Israel killed at least 78 Palestinians on Saturday, a day after Israeli shelling and airstrikes led to the bloodiest death toll of the assault yet, with more than 150 killed.

The assault came after a 72-hour ceasefire deal fell apart, as Israel launched massive airstrikes immediately beforehand and deployed heavily near Rafah, prompting a Hamas response and further Israeli shelling.

After that Israel said it was withdrawing from ceasefire talks in Cairo and officials said that any decision made would be unilateral.

Hamas offered a 10-year truce to Israel in mid-Jul y on the condition that a eight-year old economic blockade of the Gaza Strip that has caused major economic and humanitarian destruction -- while failing to achieve its stated aim, the removal of Hamas -- be lifted, but Israel rejected the offer.

Israel launched the assault earlier in the month after a sustained offensive on Hamas across the West Bank in June and early July in order to find three missing Israeli teenagers, which left 10 Palestinians dead, more than 130 injured, and 600 Hamas-affiliated individuals in prison.

The offensive -- which was accompanied by airstrikes on the Gaza Strip -- led to a sharp rise in rocket fire from the area into Israel.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on Saturday that a unilateral Israeli withdrawal would not "commit" the group to anything, stressing that Hamas was ready to continue fighting if necessary.

The comments come after top Israeli officials said that they were no longer willing to take part in negotiations, stressing that any decision on the assault on Gaza would be taken unilaterally.

Abu Zuhri, however, said in a statement that an Israeli unilateral retreat would not "commit" the group to anything, highlighting that the situation in the "field" would determine how Hamas responds to such a move.

"The resistance could fight on despite the fact that they have been fighting for 27 days," Abu Zuhri added.

Abu Zuhri also said that Israel has to pay the price for its actions, adding: "They either stay in Gaza and pay the price, unilaterally retreat and pay, or negotiate and pay."

Israel refused to take part in planned ceasefire talks on Friday, after a 72-hour cease was scuttled in its early hours after Israeli forces killed 16 people immediately beforehand and moved deeper into Gaza.

The move provoked a Hamas operation that killed two soldiers, with Israel saying another soldier was captured but Hamas denying any knowledge.

The Israeli military bombed the Islamic University in Gaza early Saturday, causing extensive damage to one of Gaza's largest and most prominent institutions of higher education.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the target was a Hamas "facility that was used for research and development of weapon manufacturing" inside the university.

The Islamic University has been repeatedly targeted by Israel in the past, especially in the 2008-9 offensive when Israel destroyed 74 labs in a series of airstrikes.

At the time it gave the same justification for the attack, citing the existence of a Hamas research facility there.

The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, also known as the "Goldstone Report," disputed the Israeli justification, saying the facilities were "civilian, educational buildings and the Mission did not find any information about their use as a military facility or their contribution to a military effort that might have made them a legitimate target in the eyes of the Israeli armed forces."

The PLO says that 137 schools have been damaged in the 26-day Israeli assault, including a number of strikes on UN schools serving as shelters that have killed dozens.

The Hamas-affiliated al-Qassam Brigades on Saturday revealed the details of military operations that they say killed more than 30 Israeli soldiers in eastern Shujaiyya on July 20.

Al-Qassam said in a statement that fighters had "set an ambush for soldiers in a house in eastern Shujaiyya. They led the soldiers into a house where they placed a gas barrel, and once the soldiers entered the house they randomly opened fire exploding the gas barrel, as planned."

"Our fighters shot grenades at the soldiers, setting the house and soldiers on fire," the statement added. "Then the (Hamas) fighters opened fire with their machine guns, killing at least 10 soldiers in the operation."

In another operation, al-Qassam said that the group's fighters had "jumped into a house" where Israeli special forces were operating from a higher building nearby and "clashed with the soldiers inside."

"Our fighters said 20 soldiers were killed during the operations," the statement added.

"Al-Qassam fighters clashed with six soldiers in eastern Shujaiyya, near al-Tawfiq mosque, killing and injuring them," the statement added, mentioning a separate incident.

The Israeli army previously acknowledged that at least 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip on July 20, and seven more deaths were confirmed the day after, some of which may have occurred previously.

Due to Israeli military censor restrictions, information on dead or wounded Israeli soldiers is often released with a delay.

63 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the assault on Gaza, and hundreds more have been injured.

The Hamas-affiliated al-Qassam Brigades said on Saturday that they
launched three rockets at Nahal Oz military site inside Israel.6 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike on home in RafahSix family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their home in Rafah on Saturday afternoon.

Four of the victims were identified as Suhaib al-Bahabsa, Jumaa al-Bahabsa, Ahmad al-Bahabsa, and Fawwaz al-Bahabsa.